Flying Potato?

[Arthur Morris]

This image of a Tufted Puffin in flight was created on my recent Katmai bear boat trip with the hand held Canon 500mm f/L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-5D Mark III. ISO 800. Evaluative metering +2 1/3 stops off the light sky: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 in Manual mode.

Central sensor/AI Servo Surround/Rear Focus AF active at the moment of exposure. Click here if you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial.


Photographing puffins in flight from a small skiff is about as challenging as it gets in bird photography; have you ever tried to photograph a flying potato? We spent several hours doing puffin flight photography and I kept very few images. The Horned Puffins are smaller, faster, and fly more erratically than the tufteds. The new 500 is light enough for me to handhold for short periods of time especially for flight or action. I will be doing a complete review of the 500II on the blog in a few weeks.

[Bill Dix]

If these guys are even half as fast as our Atlantic Puffins, then I know how tough they are to catch in flight. Flying Bullet is more like it. Great flight angle and wing position. Seems like just the slightest sharpening halo around parts of the bird.

[Andrew Merwin]

Very, very nice. I like the wing position, sharpness, BG, trailing feet with a matching colored beak. TFS.

[dankearl]

Very impressive, Arthur.
Very nice wing position, sharpness and a cool low angle to the water.
Very nice.

[PhilCook]

Not sure I understand the title...but I'll go along with it hehehe Lovely moment frozen and so close to the water surface with those wingtips

[christopher galeski]

nice image,good flight pose,some nice detail,like the bird.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice, they are tough to get against that BG. good exposure.

so you settled for the smaller gun

[Jonathan Ashton]

Its a fine shot Artie - really like it.
I have a couple of slight reservations though: a) the tip of the bill doesn't appear to be quite as sharp as the rest and b) there is a sharpening halo around the bird - most noticeable around the feet and bill.
I have a question, you mention your metering was determined from the sky - is there a reason you decided to meter off the sky as opposed to the water or is it just personal choice?

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, wing position, sharpness and BG. Excellent image Arthur!

[Karl Egressy]

Nice wing position great angle. Looks like a larger than your usual crop.

[Sachin Saraf]

Artie, Beautiful exposure, wing position and flight angle...
any specific reason not to bump ISO past 800 to get higher SS?

[Marina Scarr]

Well done in what were obviously difficult conditions. Good exposure and a nice wing position. See a pretty obvious halo.

[Doug Brown]

Nice wings down position. I'm sure they're challenging! Agree with Marina about the halo. How are you liking the 500 in combination with the 1.4x III?

[Arthur Morris]

Nice wing position great angle. Looks like a larger than your usual crop.

Almost full frame.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice wings down position. I'm sure they're challenging! Agree with Marina about the halo. How are you liking the 500 in combination with the 1.4x III?

I do not see much if any of a halo but I am old. The 500 II/1.4X III TC is great; I used it almost exclusively on the bear trip. But I could not detect any differences in AF with the 1.4X III and the series II lens; when I did everything right, the images were sharp. When I screwed up, the images were not sharp. Same as always.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, Beautiful exposure, wing position and flight angle... any specific reason not to bump ISO past 800 to get higher SS?

I was comfortable with 1/1250. Have not sued ISO 1600 much with the 5D III.

[Arthur Morris]

Its a fine shot Artie - really like it.
I have a couple of slight reservations though: a) the tip of the bill doesn't appear to be quite as sharp as the rest and b) there is a sharpening halo around the bird - most noticeable around the feet and bill.
I have a question, you mention your metering was determined from the sky - is there a reason you decided to meter off the sky as opposed to the water or is it just personal choice?

Me too. I had the sensor right on the bird's neck--could not do any better. As below, I cannot see a halo and certainly not an obvious one. I usually use the sky because it is always there. It does not matter what you meter off as long as you check the histogram and avoid significant blinkies....

[Arthur Morris]

very nice, they are tough to get against that BG. good exposure. so you settled for the smaller gun

No settling. I am waiting to get my 600 from Canon :). And my 1DX. I may or may not get rid of the 800....

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for stopping by. I imagine that a potato shot out of a gun would be difficult to photograph, especially with an erratic flight path :).

[Markus Jais]

Beautiful shot with great sharpness. I love the sea as a BG.

Markus